Torn in Two
by Ianthinarum
Summary: Two-shot. Second chapter is to be a lemon. The competition pairing smut-story winner I hosted. The Next Generation. Contains slash (same sex pairing) and some coarse language.


**Torn in Two**  
A Fanfiction Written by Chelsee Howie (Ianthinarum)

This Fanfiction, in no way, actually counts to anything in The Next Generation. It was the winner of my competition. (It's also now my favourite pairing, but I won't allow it to affect TNG, don't worry!) I own nothing but the characters and plotline of this story. The names such as 'Herondale' and 'Carstairs' belong to Cassandra Clare.

**Friends**

James Herondale thought himself many things- charismatic, stunning, optimistic, good with the opposite sex, humorous, _extremely _witty- but certainly not _homosexual. _  
The thought of being anything other than straight terrified him- more than he cared to admit. The thought of those feelings being brought upon by his best friend terrified him even more. Where in the Angel's name were the feelings coming from? God had forbidden the act… even worse, the Clave had. To be gay- to feel feelings other than platonic towards that of the same gender- was a crime against the Angel itself. To act on those feelings, well… James would prefer not to think of that. So he told himself that no, he did not have any sexual desires towards Hunter Carstairs (he was fourteen years old, surely he wouldn't have any sexual desires at that age anyway, right?) but that he would be careful none the less.

James nearly ruined everything when he persuaded Hunter to drink with him one night. They were fourteen going on fifteen, and James had decided that they were old enough to drink alcohol. That was how James found himself, heavily intoxicated, kissing Hunter on the floor of the training room. They had both said almost immediately afterwards that they were not going to mention it ever, and in the morning neither of them recollected the event anyway. If he had remembered, James might have realised Hunter had kissed him back.

It turned out to be even worse when they became _parabatai_, for James was prohibited to do anything at all. He could not brush his hand against Hunter's without the fear of being caught out, or say anything remotely out of the ordinary. To do so would bring upon the highest punishment in the Clave; for you could not be in love with your _parabatai. _Such emotions were forbidden, and were questionable to your sanity. He could not, however, stop thinking about that time in the training room (For bits and pieces had come back to him), and wished it would happen again, when they were not intoxicated. Being _parabatai _turned into both a gift and a curse.

They were friends, he would tell himself whenever Hunter looked particularly attractive, or when he had the mad urge to kiss the brunette.

Friends. Best friends. _Parabatai. _That's all they would ever be. That's all James wanted them to be. (At least he tried to tell himself that).

**More**

Hunter Carstairs told himself over and over again that the feelings he felt for a certain blue-eyed boy were purely platonic. Because they were, of course. Okay, so he sometimes fantasized about kissing James, and holding his slim body against his own, and having flesh touch flesh… But that was only _sometimes. _(Though enough that he was worried)  
He couldn't deny that he found James striking; after all, you didn't meet many people with crystalline blue eyes the same shade as lapis lazuli, or downy charcoal black locks, soft shell pink lips or lightly golden skin. You didn't meet many people like James Herondale.

But it was silly, he told himself, because James would never return his feelings. And then Hunter would ask himself 'What feelings? There are no _feelings_! Ha ha ha, very funny! Feelings I say, what nonsense…'

But tell that to his subconscious mind when he slept. He would dream of James, of the things he would do to the ravenette, and of what James could do with those pianist fingers of his. These dreams would wake Hunter, and force him to touch _himself_, and it made him waste an awful lot of time cleaning his own sheets.

But despite all of this, he wanted more. More than his dreams and more than that one blasted kiss in the training room! (Yes, he remembered, he hadn't been that intoxicated. He just let James think he didn't, why cause the boy anymore embarrassment?) He wanted to touch, to feel, to run his hands along James's skin.

So yes, maybe his feelings were not _entirely _platonic, because of how much more he wanted. But you could not get everything you wanted, Hunter knew, so he just settled for what he had.

**Problem**

James had gotten very good at hiding his feelings for his _parabatai. _He would not act out of the ordinary, and would behave as usual. Except… there was a problem. It was this little thing called 'jealousy' (what and ugly little- okay _big- _thing it was!) and it came in the form of Annabelle Herondale.  
Annabelle was James's younger sister. She was smart, and pretty, and incredibly persistent. When she set her sights on something, she got it. And she had her eyes on one thing.

Hunter Carstairs.

Annabelle was smitten for the brunette, and was not trying to hide it in the least. She was fifteen years old, and she was ready to do whatever it took to get her prize. She flirted, she dated (in the hopes to get him jealous) and yes, she continually threw herself at him.  
Hunter didn't really seem to notice however, and if he did he didn't let on. This surprised James. Annabelle was, in a sense, a respectable young lady. She had manners, came from a wealthy family, she was pretty, they had a lot in common and she fancied him. He hardly needed to do anything to receive a good life early. But Hunter just wasn't interested in her.

When James asked him about it, Hunter seemed surprised at the topic, and had laughed awkwardly. With a smile he had said Annabelle wasn't really his type, but when James asked what his type _was, _Hunter wouldn't answer him.

Despite Hunter's reassurance, James wasn't entirely convinced, which meant that pest called jealousy just kept on prickling at him like nettle pines under his feet. It was truly a problem, because James became uncharacteristically aggressive towards Annabelle, which caused hostility between the siblings. He was also constantly near Hunter, which the brunette didn't seem to mind. James's father sometimes teased that if James didn't be careful, he and Hunter would join at the hip.

If only he knew how much of a problem that thought was.

**Oblivious**

Despite what some people thought, Anna Herondale (Yeah, Anna. Not _Annabelle_) was not a stereotypical dumb blonde. She was actually quite intelligent, and that's how she noticed that her brother and 'cousin' were in love with each other.  
No, she wasn't oblivious to the sexual tension between the boys, though she wished that it wasn't there. Because if the dunderheads _weren't _head over heels for each other, Anna would be free to go about her business (No, not go and screw some man either. She wasn't a whore. In fact, she was a virgin, despite popular belief)  
But no, of course that could not be the case. Of course they were both oblivious to the others feelings, therefore making it Anna's job to show them, because it really was quite ridiculous how stupid they both were- or I guess you could call it oblivious. Either way, it was incredibly annoying.

She tried to show them in many ways that they liked each other. First, she always tried to get them to be alone together, but that didn't work, since they were alone together all the time anyway. Then she convinced James to go drink with Hunter (Yeah that was her!). She thought for certain it had worked when she saw them kissing in the training room, but the idiots seemed to have forgotten about it in the morning anyway!  
So then she started thinking harder, coming up with a plan that may actually work. And that's when it came to her: Jealousy.

James was extremely jealous if anyone even talked to Hunter, so what better than flirt with him in hopes of James confessing his love? This plan, she knew, could not fail.  
But though it was not _failing _exactly, it wasn't really working either. James became closer to Hunter than ever, hardly leaving his side, and gave Anna the cold shoulder. Though she knew it was to be expected- she was still slightly hurt. He really was oblivious if he thought that she actually fancied Hunter. She knew soon she was going to have to do something drastic or she was going to go absolutely mad!

So, on Hunter's sixteenth birthday, Anna made a bold move, and right in front of James, kissed her silver-eyed friend.

_**This story will become the smut I promised... I'm just having difficulties getting to that part xD**_


End file.
